Tens of thousands gather to protest US military presence on Japanese island

Tens of thousands joined together Sunday in a massive protest against the presence of U.S. military bases on the southwestern Japanese island of Okinawa, where an American contractor and former Marine is accused of raping and killing a local woman. The rally calls for a review of the U.S.-Japanese security agreement, which burdens Okinawa with […]

Dambusters Cruise: The Full Video!

FighterSweep Fans, I teased you a couple months ago with a little snippet of the Dambusters Cruise video. Ever since that video came out, we at FighterSweep have been accused of being heartless and cruel for such a tease. Subsequently, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to rectify that situation, because it’s only a tease if […]

US military in Japan agrees to restrict troops’ movements after Okinawa murder

TOKYO –  The U.S. military in Japan is restricting celebrations and off-base alcohol consumption in Okinawa after the arrest of a former Marine suspected of killing a woman on the southern Japanese island. The Marine Corps commander in Japan said Saturday the measures are not punishment but an effort to show respect for the victim’s […]

US military imposes restrictions on Okinawa troops after murder

The US military in Japan is restricting celebrations and off-base alcohol consumption in Okinawa after the arrest of a former Marine suspected of killing a woman on the southern Japanese island. The Marine Corps commander in Japan said on Saturday the measures were not punishment but an effort to show respect for the victim’s family and mourn with the […]

G7 leaders pledge action on terrorism, refugees, slow growth

The leaders of the Group of Seven rich economies ended a summit Friday by issuing an action plan for countering terrorism and other risks to peace and global growth, including the massive flows of refugees and migrants fleeing to Europe to escape conflict and poverty at home. A sweeping declaration from the meeting at a […]

Japan PM Shinzo Abe slams Obama over “despicable” Okinawa murder

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe publicly chastised President Obama Wednesday over the recent murder of a woman in Okinawa, which Japanese police have linked to an American worker at a U.S. military base. “At the outset of our small group discussion, I firmly launched a protest against President Obama as the Japanese prime minister with regards […]

After Hiroshima and Nagasaki – The “Bomb” and the Advent of the Cold War

United States Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson considered sharing the atomic bomb; in his plan to President Harry Truman. Secretary Stimson expressed a prophetic understanding of the global dynamics of what would soon become an international arms race for dominance of atomic and nuclear armament: The Cold War.  Secretary Stimson’s plan addressed the fundamental […]

First F-35’s for JASDF to Fly by Year End

Japan’s first F-35’s will be flying sorties from Luke Air Force Base by the end of 2016 according to a Lockheed Martin spokesman. The first batch of four is slated to roll off LockMart’s production line in November, with JASDF students flying missions shortly thereafter. That’s another step in the right direction for a production […]

With Hiroshima, Obama Goes Where Predecessors Stayed Away

When President Barack Obama tours Hiroshima’s haunting relics of nuclear warfare, he will be making a trip that past administrations weighed and avoided. For good reason: The hollowed core of the city’s A-Bomb Dome and old photos of charred children are sure to rekindle questions of guilt and penitence for World War II‘s gruesome brutality. Obama’s […]

As regional tensions grow, Japan will house new U.S. special operations aircraft

The Air Force is preparing to move a special operations squadron of 10 CV-22 Ospreys to a base in Japan, where they will be on the frontlines of the United States’ mounting standoff with China and North Korea. The first three tilt-rotor aircraft are expected to arrive at Yokota Air Base, just west of Tokyo, in the second half of 2017, with another […]